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In 2016, the Swedish Academy awarded Bob Dylan the Nobel Prize in Literature. While the announcement spurred heated debates on Dylan’s particular merits, the underlying message was clear: lyrics are literature. This chapter contains lessons that approach popular music as literature, as well as work that explores the interactions of style, time, and place between popular songs and celebrated works of fiction and poetry.
lesson:
Dylan as Poet
How did Bob Dylan merge poetry with popular music?
lesson:
Heroes and Mortals in “Something Just Like This”
Who are the gods and superheroes referenced in “Something Just Like This,” and what are the connections between them?
lesson:
Debating Dylan’s Nobel Prize
What are the arguments for and against Bob Dylan receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature?
lesson:
New Perspectives on The Great Gatsby’s Daisy Buchanan
Does Lana Del Rey’s “Young and Beautiful” help humanize Daisy Buchanan of The Great Gatsby?
lesson:
Celebrating Community with Art and Poetry (Elementary School Version)
What different types of communities exist, and how do the people in our communities impact us?
lesson:
Celebrating Community with Art and Poetry (High School Version)
What different types of communities exist, and how do the people in our communities impact us?
lesson:
Blues, Poetry, and the Harlem Renaissance
How does Langston Hughes’ Blues-inspired poetry exemplify the ideals of the Harlem Renaissance?
lesson:
DAMN.: The Art and Importance of Storytelling
How do Kendrick Lamar’s album DAMN. and the work of photojournalist Gordon Parks tell stories that bring attention to social issues?
lesson:
Identifying and Resisting Jim Crow with Words and Songs
How have works of literature and music by Black Americans shared an empowering theme of identifying and resisting Jim Crow?
lesson:
Writing Personal Narratives and The Harlem Renaissance
How do Langston Hughes, Gladys Bentley, and Louis Armstrong effectively write personal narratives about living during the Harlem Renaissance?
lesson:
The Crossroads as a Literary Symbol
How have writers, storytellers, and musicians explored the crossroads as a symbol in their work?
lesson:
The Juke Joint: Where Oral Literature Comes Alive
What role do Blues lyrics and juke joints play in Black American literature and life?
Video
video:
Dylan as Beat Poet
In 2016, the Swedish Academy awarded Bob Dylan the Nobel Prize in Literature. While the announcement spurred heated debates on Dylan’s particular merits, the underlying message was clear: lyrics are literature. This chapter contains lessons that approach popular music as literature, as well as work that explores the interactions of style, time, and place between popular songs and celebrated works of fiction and poetry.
video:
Subterranean Homesick Blues
In 2016, the Swedish Academy awarded Bob Dylan the Nobel Prize in Literature. While the announcement spurred heated debates on Dylan’s particular merits, the underlying message was clear: lyrics are literature. This chapter contains lessons that approach popular music as literature, as well as work that explores the interactions of style, time, and place between popular songs and celebrated works of fiction and poetry.
video:
Howl
In 2016, the Swedish Academy awarded Bob Dylan the Nobel Prize in Literature. While the announcement spurred heated debates on Dylan’s particular merits, the underlying message was clear: lyrics are literature. This chapter contains lessons that approach popular music as literature, as well as work that explores the interactions of style, time, and place between popular songs and celebrated works of fiction and poetry.